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Grant earns share of NLCC championship

Grant's boys basketball team left an opposing gym without a cutup souvenir net for the second night in a row.

This time, however, the Bulldogs departed with smiles. They also bolted Wauconda with a share of the conference championship, which ultimately was their top priority.

"Relieved, for sure," said Grant senior guard Henry Kusiak, smiling. "It's a good one to get. We still got a lot to work on before the state tournament, though."

A night after getting upset by Lakes in Lake Villa, Grant pulled out a 45-42 win over host Wauconda on Saturday to clinch a tie for the Northern Lake County Conference title. The Bulldogs (17-12, 10-3) can win the conference championship outright with a win at Grayslake Central on Tuesday. But the Rams (8-4 NLCC) have won six straight, and they will share the title if they beat Grant and follow up with a home win against Round Lake next Friday.

"That'll be a good game (on Tuesday)," Kusiak said after scoring 11 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and playing good defense on Wauconda's high-scoring Donovan Carter. "We'll come out strong. We'll be ready. We know (Grayslake Central) will be too."

If Grant had beaten Lakes, Bulldogs coach Wayne Bosworth said he wanted his team to celebrate their NLCC title by cutting down a net. The Bulldogs didn't pull out scissors and a ladder at Wauconda, either, but they didn't get the chance to arrange it beforehand, assuming Wauconda would have been OK with it.

"That's part of high school basketball," Bosworth said. "No matter who it is - I don't care if it's us or one of the Grayslakes or North Chi - the kids in this conference bust their butts so hard that they deserve the opportunity to be able to do something like that."

Grant didn't get off to a great start against Wauconda (14-14, 6-7), as the hosts took a 15-10 lead into the second quarter and lengthened their lead to 20-10 with 5:35 left before halftime. Grant answered with a 13-1 run, and Kusiak said he and his teammates were not feeling the effects of their loss at Lakes.

"Give it to Lakes, for sure, (Friday) night," Kusiak said. "I don't think we were overconfident. I think we played really well. We were a little slow, but they came out strong.

"And then today, I think we came out pretty good defensively. On offense, our shots weren't dropping."

Carter, who was coming off a 30-point performance at Round Lake on Friday night, never got going offensively, in part because he picked up 2 fouls in the second quarter. He finished with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting (one 3-pointer).

"They applied a little more on-ball pressure to me so it was a little bit harder to get some space," Carter said. "We just had to move the ball around a little bit more. I think if we would have moved the ball around more and didn't operate too much on the outside, we could have gotten some better looks for ourselves."

Kusiak defended Carter most of the game, but didn't want to take much credit.

"Our off-ball speed was a lot better today, so it wasn't just me," Kusiak said. "There was pressure on the ball the entire game, and we didn't give (Carter) a lot of second-chance points."

The teams combined for only 9 points in a deliberately played fourth quarter in which Hunter Waszkowski's layup with 5:25 left put Grant up for good at 43-42.

Nick Rinchiuso came off the bench to lead Wauconda in scoring with 16 points (two 3-pointers).

Waszkowski scored a team-high 15 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Tavarus Williams had 8 points and 8 boards. Starting guard Torren Curry played only sparingly in the first half, collecting 2 points and 2 steals, because his knee stiffened up. It's the same injury that caused him to miss a game last week.

"The kids deserve credit," said Bosworth, whose Bulldogs tied North Chicago for the championship in the NLCC's inaugural season two years ago. "They clinched a share of (the title), and that's something to be proud of, for sure. At the same time, there's no celebrating. They know they got a job to do on Tuesday. That's a big game in somebody else's gym, and our guys are ready for it."

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